This quotation comes from a list of productivity tips from Preston Ni, a professor and author writing for Psychology Today. It contains a key piece of advice we often forget: just because something seems urgent doesn't mean that it's important.

There are a lot of ways to look at this statement. On a micro level, every time you're assigned a task at work it may feel urgent. Perhaps you'll be told it is. You'll have to weigh that new task against the ones you have, reminding yourself that you ought to be working on what's most important and not something that appears to be urgent. On a macro level—how this statement wasn't intended—you need to prioritize the things in your life that are most important to you. Sometimes small needs of other people and little emergencies may seem more urgent than they are. You have a limited amount of time. Prioritize what's important to you, rather than replace that with everything else that appears to have a sense of urgency.